


Open Minded

by bjfic_archivist



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Fluff, Future, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-05-13
Updated: 2006-05-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 05:23:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12074349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bjfic_archivist/pseuds/bjfic_archivist
Summary: Gus is sixteen Brian and Justin learn that he is going to his first prom, but his date isn't what either of them expected.





	Open Minded

**Author's Note:**

> Note from IrishCaelan, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Brian_Justin_Fanfiction_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in September 2017. I posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bjfic/profile).

When Brian returned from work, he found Justin and Gus at the table engrossed in a very intense game of Rummy 500.  Justin was losing horribly; Brian could tell by the three measly fives laid out in front of his partner, whereas Gus’s side of the table was covered with cards.  Tugging on his ear anxiously, Justin studied his hand.  Gus was calm, leaning back in his chair nonchalantly.  He was the first to notice his father walking through the door.

 

Gus tried to minimize his expression of excitement by biting his lip.  Since moving back to Pittsburgh from Canada four years ago, Gus often traveled to New York to visit his father, who had been in the city for just about as long as Gus could remember.  A little over a year after Justin moved to the Big Apple, Ted told Brian that it was time he start thinking about expanding Kinnetik.  Since it had always been Brian’s dream to go to New York...

 

Six months later the New York branch of Kinnetik was up and running with Brian at the helm.  He and Justin, who had decided to try to move on after realizing the long distance thing was too hard, reunited for an innocent drink in a swanky Midtown bar after not seeing each other for almost a year.  That one innocent drink turned into a whole night and a good part of the next day making up for lost time in the first hotel they could find.

 

The rest, as the say, was history.

 

Brian dropped his briefcase on the kitchen counter of his SoHo loft.  “Hey Sonny Boy,” Brian greeted him casually.  “When’d you get here?”

 

“About an hour ago.  Justin picked me up from Penn.”

 

“That was nice of him,” Brian said with a smirk, bussing Justin’s lips as he walked past him.

 

Once his father was close enough, Gus jumped out of his seat and threw his long, semi muscular arms around his father’s neck.  When Brian pulled his son in for a hug, he felt the developing muscles in Gus’s back and was happy to know that his lanky son was finally filling out.  At the same time, it made him sad to see that his baby boy was filling out.

 

“Have you been working out, Gus?” Brian teased his son, poking his somewhat defined abs.

 

“Four years of Lacrosse’ll do that to a person,” Gus said defensively, self-consciously pulling away.

 

“Lacrosse,” Brian scoffed.  “Why not soccer like your old dad?”

 

“Maybe because I’m not you,” Gus said with a sly, all-too-Kinney smile as he sat back down across from Justin, resuming their game.  Justin was laughing at his pseudo-stepson’s comment when he finally decided to draw from the deck.

 

Forty-five minutes later, the two men and adolescent were consuming mass amounts of quality downtown Chinese food while catching up.

 

“Annoying as ever, but it’s only because she adores me, I guess,” Gus said with a laugh in response to an inquiry about Jenny Rebecca.

 

“And vice versa,” Justin responded, pointing a chopstick at Gus.  “I have a little sister, too.  I know how these things work.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, she’s all right, I guess.”

 

Brian chuckled.  “And what would you do without all that adoration?  Where would your ego be?”

 

“An ego that he clearly didn’t inherit from Lindsay,” Justin remarked casually.

 

“Clearly,” Brian agreed.  “He got it from Mel.”

 

“Dad...” Gus said warningly, but with a suppressed smile to let his father knew that he wasn’t all that offended.

 

“Speaking of Mel,” Justin segued elegantly, “I heard something interesting.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“She tells me you’re taking a friend to prom.”

 

Brian raised his brow.  “Prom?  Isn’t that next year?”

 

“It’s not my prom.  It’s my friend’s.”

 

“Well... who is this lucky chick and why haven’t I heard more about her?” Brian asked, stabbing his chopsticks into his container of lo mein.

 

“First of all, who the hell says ‘chick’?” Gus asked his father casually.  “Second of all, it’s not a ‘her’.”

 

Brian’s eyebrows met his hairline as he and Justin, whose jaw had dropped considerably, exchanged a surprised glace.

 

“Don’t get so excited, Dad.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I still a breeder.  I’m pretty sure that that’s not gonna change at this point.  Sorry.”

 

“Huh?  Oh, yeah, okay.”

 

“And you know that’s nothing to apologize for,” Justin informed the teen with a playful smile.  “We accept and love you, even though you’re straight.”

 

“Thanks, Jus.”  Gus chucked a cashew at his sort-of-step dad.

 

“So, then why are you going to a prom with this guy?” Brian asked, still baffled by the situation.

 

“My friend Josh needed a date.”

 

“So I’m assuming that Josh is gay.”

 

“Very good, Dad,” Gus said in the most patronizing tone he could muster, “Josh likes boys.”

 

When Justin laughed, he got another cashew thrown at him from the other Kinney at the table.  This made him laugh even harder.

 

“I appreciate your explaining this to me, Sonny Boy.”

 

Sighing dramatically, Gus decided to give his father a break.  “Josh is a really good friend of mine.  He was my coworker at Starbucks last summer.  He goes to the other high school in my district, Alleghany North.  I kinda knew he was queer when I met him, but since he didn’t say anything I just didn’t bring it up.  At some point I must have mentioned that I had two moms or something, and he told me.  Whatever.  Anyway, when his prom was rolling around and he didn’t have anyone to go with- and he didn’t want to go alone- he asked if I would be his date.”

 

“And he knew you were straight?” Brian inquired, fascinated.

 

“Yeah.  But I told him that I’d go.”

 

“And it doesn’t weird you out or anything?” Justin asked.

 

“Why should it?  He knows that we’re going as friends, and I don’t think he’s gonna like try to hit on me or anything.  I mean, gay guys do it for their straight girl friends all the time, and guys and girls go as friends.  He wanted to go with a guy, and I say, why the fuck shouldn’t he?”

 

For a moment Justin was too drawn into the story to notice Brian’s hand wrapping around his own.  It was almost hard for him to imagine it being that easy for two guys to go to prom together, one of whom wasn’t even gay.  And for Gus to be so comfortable with it, the nonchalant tone, granted both of his parents were gay, but still it isn’t easy to put yourself out there like that.  Justin remembered pacing his bedroom for nearly an hour, rubbing his clammy palms together, trying to muster the courage to ask Brian to go to his prom with him.  And they had been sleeping together.

 

Brian and Justin stayed quiet for a long time, a little too long for Gus’s comfort.  “What?  What is it?”

 

Gus watched his father share a look with his lover that he didn’t quite understand.  And something told him that he didn’t want to.

 

“You guys can really stop being awkward now.”

 

“Forgive me and my Catholic school upbringing but... do you think everyone will we be okay with this?  The administration and the kids and... everyone?”

 

Gus shrugged.  “I guess so.  I mean, I know Josh had a boyfriend who he went with to his Junior Prom.  He didn’t mention having any problems.  I just figure, there are always gonna be the homophobic pricks, so you just gotta ignore them and live your fucking life, you know?”

 

Justin smiled.  Gus was sounding more and more like his father everyday.


End file.
